BWF puts interim ban on newly introduced 'spin serve'

The apex body of Badminton, Badminton World Federation has put an interim ban on the newly introduced 'spin serve' effective immediately until 29 May 2023.

"Any failure to adhere to the experimental variation to the law will result in a fault being called," BWF said in a statement.

The apex body decided to take the step after reports of shuttlers gaining unfair advantage using the spin serve emerged.

With an amendment to 9.1.5 of Section 4.1 of the BWF Laws of Badminton, it now states that the server shall release the shuttle without adding spin, and the server’s racket shall initially hit the base of the shuttle.

The interim ban takes effect at all BWF sanction international tournaments including the Sudirman Cup Finals 2023 starting Sunday 14 May 2023 and Malaysia Masters 2023 the following week.

The new ‘spin serve’ was first implemented in tournaments at the Polish Open 2023 in March.

BWF President Poul-Erik Høyer said of the decision: “BWF welcomes players creating innovation in our game and experimenting with techniques to create competitive advantage on court.

“However, we have received several points of feedback from within the badminton community, including the BWF Athletes’ Commission, expressing that this ‘spin serve’ could have a negative impact on the game.

“It’s also been observed internally that this ‘spin serve’ has many similar characteristics to the ‘Sidek serve’, which is not allowed.

“An expert panel, therefore, recommended to disallow the ‘spin serve’ until further consultation could take place with the membership at the upcoming BWF AGM on 27 May 2023.

“BWF also wanted to avoid a scenario where the upcoming Sudirman Cup Finals 2023, and other international tournaments, could be platforms to test the new ‘spin serve’ and ultimately disrupt the competitions."

“As such, BWF Council felt it best to impose this experimental variation to disallow the ‘spin serve’ until BWF Council convenes again on 29 May for further discussion and deliberation.”

What is the Spin serve?

This is a kind of serve where the shuttler holds the cork of the shuttlecock in between his or her thumb and middle finger and tries to put a spin to it with a carrom strike motion before sending it across the net with the racquet.

This spin serve has proved to be a handful for the opposition players, who have struggled to send it back as the shuttle twists and falls across the net.